Toasts of the President and President Lleras at the White House

Note: The President proposed the toast at a state dinner at the White House. President Lleras responded as follows:

Mr. President:

I sincerely thank you for all your kind words and in particular for your references to my country. My companions and I have received with deep emotion and lasting gratitude the welcome which you, your Government, and your countrymen have extended to us. For my part, I interpret this as a testimonial of fraternity for a nation which I happen to have the privilege of representing, not-thank Heaven--against its will, but by its decision. I know quite well that the people of Colombia honestly and unreservedly share the sentiments of admiration and friendship I feel for the United States, and regard with enthusiasm your invitation and my visit, which are an eloquent way of indicating that the cooperation between our two nations is proceeding regularly and harmoniously.

We have, in moments of special difficulty, received the support of the American Government, and when support from us--physically scant, perhaps, but politically and morally important--has been necessary to maintain an international policy to which we have conjointly pledged ourselves, we have given it without the slightest hesitation. It is long since there has been between Colombia and the United States any difference which has not been settled with the greatest ease and in the shortest time possible. In the international organizations to which we belong, our agents collaborate to achieve the purposes clearly set forth in the Charters. Your Ambassadors in Colombia, Mr. President, have been welcome with an affection which they have invariably deserved. Ours here have been cordially treated, and there has never been anything to impair the effectiveness of their labors. Besides, it gives me pleasure to say that--though this is the way the moral relationship between friendly peoples usually functions--the difference between your material circumstances and ours has in no way been emphasized, except insofar as this great power feels obliged to aid less developed countries, to give them technical, scientific, and financial assistance with the purpose of bettering our people's condition.

You, Mr. President, have recently had the opportunity of knowing directly the popular sentiments of Latin America towards the nation you so loftily represented in our countries. And I am sure that from your visit--which, unfortunately, could not be more extended and complete--you brought back with you the conviction that in that vast region of the world, which has been the oldest partner of the United States in her international policy, there are unsuspected possibilities of collaborating harmoniously to make this Hemisphere a worthy haven for man, for the highest human qualities and for liberty.

On reiterating to you and Mrs. Eisenhower my thanks, as well as those of Mrs. Lleras and my traveling companions, for all the acts of courtesy and friendship you have showered upon us, I should like to express, Mr. President, my best wishes for the continued greatness of the United States and the personal happiness of its President and Mrs. Eisenhower.